


Moving On From the Old Days

by slytheringurrl



Series: A New Start [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-10 23:23:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1165818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytheringurrl/pseuds/slytheringurrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He hadn’t told her, his best friend and yet, it seemed like everyone else that was close to him knew."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ningloreth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ningloreth/gifts).



> Thank you CaptainRayChill, poppyxxxx and swirlsofblack for being fantastic betas. Thanks Rumaan for the Brit-pick! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!  
> This story was based off artwork by ningloreth.

Hermione Granger ran out into the chilly night, trying not to glance back. She attempted to get away from there as fast as she could in her floor-length dress. She just needed to get out of there. It was as if her world had spun sideways when Harry had raised his flute of champagne and announced the fact that he was engaged. He hadn’t told her, his best friend and yet, it seemed like everyone else that was close to him knew.

 

Suddenly, she felt herself tripping in her ridiculous heels that Ginny had forced her to wear and before she could even attempt to regain her balance, she crashed into something—or rather, someone.

 

"Granger? What the hell are you doing here?" Draco Malfoy grasped Hermione's arms and lifted her off the ground. "Why are you out here? Are you ditching the party already?"

 

"It's wonderful to see you too, Draco," Hermione said sarcastically. "I was just leaving. You know, tomorrow's a work day and I am just so exhausted."

 

"And why were you leaving in such a hurry? You could’ve hurt yourself since you clearly were not looking where you were going."

 

"Draco, stop acting like my mother. You might be my partner, but you're not required to look out for my safety. I'm really not in the mood to deal with you right now," Hermione grumbled as she took off her stilettos and sat down on the curb, wrapping her shawl tighter around her shoulders. "My luck must be especially bad today, since I had to run into you out of all people. I sit in a room with you all week long. I'm just so frustrated and angry and I just don't want to talk to anyone right now."

 

"Right. You don't want any company right now. I'll keep that in mind. But, what's wrong?" the blond asked, taking a seat next to his colleague. For the last five years, he and Hermione had been working together in the Improper Use of Magic Office and at this point, Draco knew Hermione well enough to realize when she needed someone to just listen to her angry outbursts. _Oh, the things I do for this girl,_ he thought wryly, trying not to think about how dirty his tailored dress pants were getting. "You look upset."

 

"Oh, I seem upset? What gave you that brilliant thought?" the brunette asked sarcastically. "My life is a _disaster_ ," she moaned, shoving her face into her hands. "Ron's married, Harry's engaged to a person he barely knows, and I'm single. Do you think I'm suddenly going through a midlife crisis?"

 

"You didn't know that Harry was engaged?" Draco inquired curiously. "And I thought he knew Padma."

 

"Fine, Padma Patil isn’t a random woman off the street but he really doesn’t know her that well.  They haven't even been dating a year!" she exclaimed, disbelief written clearly on her face. "Even Ron dated Luna for a while before they got married. But, it's none of my business.   I want to go back to the time when we were young and unattached again, without all that drama, of course.  I just want to fit in with Harry and Ron again. They're doing everything without me. You know, Harry told Pansy about his engagement before he told me. I'm his best friend," she yelled, throwing her hands up into the air. "I deserve to know first. Also, I always figured that I'd be the first to get married or be in a stable relationship, not them. They're completely immature!"

 

"At least you got one thing right; Potter and Weasel are extremely juvenile," Draco chimed in with a laugh.  "Perhaps your biological clock is ticking. That's what Pansy said before—"

 

"Pansy’s married. She's going around urging everyone to get married and start families," Hermione huffed. "She's let me know that I need to date at least a thousand times."

 

"Oh, yeah," Draco mused. "She even told me, of all people, to settle down."

 

"Pansy's the kind of married woman who wants to see all her single friends married," Hermione sagely told him. She suddenly started tugging at the pins holding her hair up. "Argh! These bloody pins have been digging into my scalp all evening." She growled in frustration.

 

Draco put his hands over hers to stop her. "Here, let me. You're likely to pull out all your hair if you keep doing that," he chided her. "Just stop worrying. Calm down and take a deep breath. Everything will work itself out. Potter and Weasley won't abandon you. Trust me."

 

Hermione put her hands in her lap, looking defeated. "It's just that I'm so sick and tired of being the fifth wheel. I feel like I'm being left out. Whenever Ron, Harry and I try to get together to even eat lunch, either one of their significant others is always in the way. I just want to go back to the time when they didn't have any other female influences in their lives but me."

 

"Hmm, I think someone's a little jealous," Draco muttered with a grin creeping on his face.

 

"I am _not_ jealous," Hermione seethed. "Why would I ever be jealous? I don't want to date or live with either of them. All I ask for is a lunch date with my boys once in a while without interruptions. That's all. After all, I was the one who was saving their sorry arses when we were in school. I deserve that much. Don't you think so?"

 

"You're definitely not jealous," Draco admitted. "I think that you're sad that they're growing up and leaving you behind. I think that you need to get used to the fact that Potter and Weasel don’t need you as much anymore, Hermione."

 

"Maybe you're right," Hermione agreed uncertainly. "I think I'm over-thinking this whole thing."

 

"Trust me, you are."

 

Hermione stood up and smoothed out her dress. "It's getting late and I just want to go to sleep. See you at work tomorrow." As she walked away, she looked back and called, "Hey, Draco. Thanks for sitting here with me while I sulked about my life."

 

"No problem." Draco smiled. "See you tomorrow, Granger."

 

Draco could still remember the day when he first walked into Hermione Granger's office five years ago, his hands filled with a box filled with his office junk. That day, he thought he would be sharing an office with an authoritative figure that would toss him into a corner of the room and not talk to him at all. He figured that she would be a complete jerk to him since she had hated him with a burning passion when they were in school. Surprisingly, she was a very helpful and open person and one day, she offered to buy him a cup of coffee. As a result, their strange but effective friendship began. As they got to know each other better, he and Hermione would spend hours both during and off working hours just talking and having a good time. They weren’t sleeping together, as many of their co-workers figured, and they certainly weren’t in a relationship. But, it was better that way, Draco figured. There were no emotional ties and those kinds of friendships worked out better in the long run, anyway.

 

\----

 

"Good morning! I brought breakfast and coffee," Harry called, barging into Draco and Hermione's shared office at the Ministry.

 

"Fantastic," groaned Draco, obviously still half-asleep. "You could’ve been quieter though."

 

Harry cocked his head to the side and glared at Draco. "Be thankful that someone got you coffee and stop complaining."

 

"When have I ever cared about what you want, Potter?" Draco asked, only half-joking. "Just give me my damn coffee and get out."

 

"Well, now that you've ticked me off, I don't think I want to give you your coffee but I could be persuaded to give it to you if you beg, "Harry responded good-humoredly.

 

"I don't know how to beg," the blond said teasingly, "but for that cup of coffee, I'll do anything."

 

Harry handed Draco a traveler's mug filled with hot steaming coffee—the ambrosia of the masses. "You know I'm just kidding. Here's yours, black with three sugars." He then glimpsed around the office. "Where's Hermione? I even spent some extra Galleons buying her a scone."

 

"Don't know," Draco said, shrugging. "I saw her last night and she never said anything about not coming to work."

 

"That's odd. Well, I have to go to a meeting, but if Hermione does come in, tell her I said hi."

 

"Will do."

 

\----

 

"I can't believe I'm sad that Ron and Harry are all grown up," Hermione lamented to Ginny. "Draco was right. I couldn’t even stay at that party last night after Harry and Padma announced their engagement. I'm such a mess; no wonder they don’t like to hang out with me anymore."

 

" Now, you are sounding a tad mad," Ginny chortled. "You've spent the entire day brooding about how you're single. You're not a mess. You're just going through a phase and Harry's engagement has made you realize this. You're almost thirty, Hermione. Maybe it's time to settle down. You know what? I'll set you up on a blind date—it'll be fun!"

 

"No, no, no!" Hermione exclaimed, horror clearly written on her face. "I do not need to go on blind dates. Thank you very much for the relationship advice but I'm not interested."

 

"It'll be good for you," Ginny urged. "You've gotten used to having the boys as constant companions. In a way, it's like you're the mother bird and your chicks are leaving the nest. You've gotten used to constantly scolding and mothering them and now that they've left, your biological clock is ticking."

 

"But, blind dates have never worked out for me," Hermione complained. "Remember when you set me up with Cormac McLaggen and I ended up slapping him for being the ultimate asshole?"

 

"Right…" Ginny winced as she recalled that fiasco of a date. "I promise that this one will go infinitely better. I already have the perfect person in mind."

 

"Okay Ginny, one date. That's it," Hermione conceded. "I'm still not happy about this but I'll try to look at the bright side of things and hope that that date will work out in my favor."

 

"That's all I ask for," Ginny said as she clapped her hands excitedly and beamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I totally forgot to post this last chapter!

Hermione's mouth dropped in disbelief as she followed Ginny's gaze to the table set for two right in the middle of the room.   
 

"I can't believe you did this," she whispered, teeth clenched.  "Are you trying to wreck my evening?"  
 

Ginny cringed, eyes downcast.  "Okay, I might have left out a few details about this particular blind date," she blurted out.  "I owed Zabini a favor after he gave me tickets to a Quidditch game and I just couldn’t resist.  He only wanted one date and he's a reasonable guy so I agreed."

 

Hermione took a deep breath in hopes of calming herself down.  "Let me get this straight.  You used me as a bargaining chip to get stupid Quidditch tickets?"  
 

The redhead's cheeks flushed and she had the sense to look ashamed as she replied, "Well, when you put it that way, it does seem a bit mean.  But this will be the last time.  Please Hermione," Ginny pleaded.   "Just this once.  I'll never make you go on a blind date again."  
 

"This is the second time in a week that you've tried to emotionally blackmail me into doing something," Hermione argued, set against letting her friend get her way _again_.  "I'm not doing it."  
 

"Come on," Ginny said, pushing her friend lightly.  "I know that you're really angry at me but they were really expensive tickets.  With the amount of money the Ministry gives me, I'm basically penniless."  
 

Hermione shook her head, curls flying everywhere.  "It's not that," she said, shaking her head.  "You're basically taking advantage of me and the fact that I'm _not_ married with three kids."  
 

"Of course not," Ginny said indignantly.  "Why would you ever think that?"  
 

Hermione raised her eyebrows and shrugged.  "You tell me."  
 

Ginny fell silent as she thought of all the times she had convinced Hermione to do her favors.  "You're right.  I have been asking you for a lot of things lately," she finally agreed, gnawing on her lower lip.  "I haven't been a very good friend, have I?"   
 

"You've always supported me when I needed it most," Hermione said, running her hands through her hair.  "So, you have been a good friend.  I'll go and eat dinner with Blaise.  But, I'm not doing it next time.  So, don't come asking me to do you a favor and go out on a date with some guy next time since I'm definitely saying no."  
 

"Thank you.  Now go!" Ginny pushed Hermione lightly into the restaurant.  "Have fun," she called to Hermione's retreating back.  
 

\----

 

The moon was glowing, a light breeze was passing through and it was a beautiful night.  Hermione was sitting on that blasted sidewalk again.  At least this time, she was wearing pants and a comfortable sweater.  "I am never going on blind dates again," she muttered.  _Why did I even agree to this?_ She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to forget about her awful night and calm herself down.  
 

After a few minutes of sitting silently in the dark, she gave up on attempting to relax and took out her wand and Apparated herself back to her apartment.  She had work tomorrow and if she didn't go home now, she's be out here all night.  
 

\----  
 

Draco propped his feet up on the desk and watched as his partner got more agitated by the minute.  She was flinging her arms around and her bushy hair was flying around crazily.   
 

"I'm such an idiot," she seethed.  "How could I have let her persuade me into doing the same thing again?"  
 

"I'm not so sure.  _Why_ did you do it?" replied Draco, trying to piss her off.  Besides, it wouldn't make her rotten mood any worse and he'd have a good laugh. "Maybe you were feeling sympathetic.  After all, Quidditch tickets are worth it."  
 

"Why do I tell you about these things?" Hermione wondered, shaking her head.  "I'm supposed to be strong yet here I am, spilling all my secrets to you of all people."

 

"Wow, that's harsh," Draco said softly.  "I'm not that bad of a confidant.  I listen to everything you say."  
 

Hermione smiled.  "You're amazing, and I really mean that.  Nevertheless, we hated each other when we were younger.  It's a little strange that I bitch about my life to you on a daily basis.  Before we started working together, I couldn’t tell anyone what was going on with my life since I was trying so hard to maintain the façade that I was strong and independent.  But somehow, you've become my pseudo-therapist. "  
 

"I guess I have," he agreed.  "You should pay me.  I like money and I can't keep being your therapist for free."  
 

"You're such a git sometimes, you know?  I'm not paying you.  But, I still can't believe that I let Ginny get her way again.  Sometimes, I'm such a pushover."  
 

"You caved under peer pressure again.   You're becoming weaker, Hermione," he teased, laughing lightly.  "Soon, you'll even let me boss you around."  
 

"But, the guy wasn’t that bad this time," Hermione complained.  "I had no reason not to help.  I like Blaise.  He's nice and honestly, I had a good time with him but after the date, yesterday felt like the worst day ever since I knew that I went on that date without really wanting to.  I wish that I could've been able to say no to Ginny."  
 

"You're just too nice to her," Draco grumbled.  "I have a lot of things that you could do for me.  Help me, I really need it."  
 

"Not happening," she retorted.  "I'm not writing your reports.  I'll start doing your work when you give me your salary."  
 

"Come on," he wheedled, "I have so many things to do.  We do the same job.  You like helping people out in need, right?  I am in dire need of assistance."  
 

"Weren't you the one who just told me I shouldn’t cave under peer pressure?" Hermione asked with a grin.  "I'm just taking your advice and saying no."  
 

"Whatever," he muttered.  "I suppose I'll have to miss out on my daily gossip session with Pansy and Potter to finish my work.  Thanks a lot."  
 

"Daily gossip session?  You, Pansy and Harry talk like old ladies.  You might as well start knitting too."  Hermione giggled and dropped a stack of papers on his desk.  "You also get to send letters to these people to remind them about the wonderful rules of underage magic.  I'm glad I'm caught up with my work.  I think I'm going to go catch up with Harry and Pansy."  
 

"Just go and let me do my work," Draco said as he threw the Snitch-shaped stress ball that was lying on his desk at Hermione's back. 

 

\---  
 

Hermione knocked on Harry's office in the Auror Department as she tapped her foot, waiting for him to open the door.  
 

Harry pulled open the door and smiled down at his best friend.  "Hey, what are you doing here?  We were waiting for Malfoy.  Have you seen him?"  
 

Hermione pushed her way through the doorway, past Harry, who was wearing a confused look on his face.  "We need to talk," she said.  "Alone."  She looked at Pansy pointedly.  "It would be fantastic if you could leave."  
 

"Sure," said the other woman, picking up her foil container of take-away Chinese food and walking towards the door.  "Harry, maybe we can catch up later.  I'll call Draco and tell him to bring the alcohol and food."  
 

"What's going on?" the black-haired man asked, perching himself on the edge of his desk.  "You're acting weird.  By the way, I noticed that you left the party early too."  
 

"No, I'm upset," she retorted.  "You told everyone that you were going to propose to Padma, or everyone except for me.  Why?"  
 

"I didn't mean to exclude you," Harry confessed as he fidgeted with his tie.  "I didn't want you to judge me.  You've always been one to come to conclusions quickly.  I really love Padma.  You've always seemed very disapproving of my relationship with her so I didn’t tell you."  He shrugged.  "I'm sorry that I hurt you but what's done is done now."  
 

"I've been through so much with you, Harry.  I've never told you that you were wrong, except when you really were."  Hermione laughed lightly.  "You have no idea how hurt I was.  I not once said that Padma was a bad fit for you, nor did I ever tell you that I disapproved of her, so I don't know where you got that idea from."  Hermione looked up at Harry, eyes shimmering.  "I might be a strong person, but I have feelings too."  She smiled tightly, rose out of her chair and moved towards the door.  "Sorry for interrupting your lunch."  
 

\----

 

"I am so frustrated and angry right now," Hermione muttered as she shoved open the door to their office.  "I hate him so much."  
 

"I'm guessing that you talked to Potter."

 

"I did," she replied, sinking into her desk chair.  "He told me that I apparently jump to conclusions too fast and that I hated Padma.  Which I don't, in case you were wondering.  I just don't get it," Hermione said sadly, eyes welling up with tears again.  "I never said anything bad about her."  She groaned and rested her head on her desk.  "I just don’t get it."

"Hermione, just stop complaining about your life," Draco said, running a hand through his hair.  "Harry didn't tell you that he got engaged.  What's the big deal?  I get that you're taking this personally, but for the first time in five years, I can't listen to you anymore.  He's your best friend—you said so yourself—so forgive him.  Just man up and move on," he repeated sternly.  "I know that you like to hold grudges but I think that it's better for you that you forgive and forget."  
 

"Is that your advice?  What happened to the evil Slytherin in you?" Hermione asked wryly.  "I want to forgive him but I can't.  I feel like a mother who hasn’t attended her son's wedding.  I always thought that he'd tell me everything but I suppose not."

 

"Sometimes life just doesn't work out the way we want it to.  Life is filled with disappointments, Hermione.  This is just one of them."

 

Hermione shook her head in acknowledgement.  "You're right.  I can't act like a five-year-old who hasn’t gotten her way at twenty-eight.  I need to grow up and stop overreacting to everything that doesn't go my way.  Before I talked to Harry, Ginny somehow managed to convince me that I just needed a man in my life to be happy.  I'm still upset with Harry but I need to move on and just forgive him.   I think that I've just gotten a little bitter about how my life is and I need to change it on my own."  
 

"You'll be just fine," the blond assured her.  "Just remember that I'm here for you if you ever need anyone to talk to."

 

"You've been amazing these past few weeks though," Hermione acknowledged.  "I probably would've killed Harry by now if it weren’t for you."

 

"That's what partners are for, Granger."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and there is a sequel that should be coming soon!


End file.
